Espada Mission 2A - The Path of the Blood Hare

[Kolbertt]

Exploring the rumors about the Mysterious Swordman, we came across Sora Stryfe. This young Arrancar, of average level, has been known to destroy whole colonies, face the 8th Espada on a physical match and survive to count the storie, and suffered massive physical strain.

All this feats were possible because of a particular parasite, who currently lies in possession of “Los Arcanos” – Based on Sora’s story, this parasite was handed to him by a mysterious Arrancar in exchange for a Shinigami’s Zanpakuto. Such powerful raw skill is precious. The possibility to exponentially increase your strength will help us enormously in our incoming, and unavoidable, war.

Since we cannot yet specify where “Los Arcanos” reside, we have no choice but to contact the creator directly.

Sora declares he used to live on the southern edges of the Forest of Menos, so that’s logically the first place to go check at. Normally, we wouldn’t send Espada to feeble retrieval missions, but the risks involved in this mission are too high for nothing else to handle it.

First of all, there have been signs of Arrancar activity on the Area. We are not certain yet, but we are willing to bet “Los Arcanos” are looking for the very same thing we are...
As you may all know, we, Espada, are facing difficulties with the group “Los Arcanos” - At first, we didn’t really consider them as a serious threat, but the fact that their members are able to fight on par with the Eigth and Fifth Espada is something to be worried about. Though they being in the area plays to our favor, as there is the chance to retrieve information on both their plans and location.

To make matters worse, the enormous ammount of Hollows in the area may call for undesired attention from Dios de Diablo and his minnions. They’ve remained suspiciously quiet up to this point...

To add in your quest, you’ll receive help from not only Sora Stryfe, but the 4th Espada as well. He has shown a deep interest on this whole subject, and his skills will be of use to you.

In short, your goals are:
1- Retrieve information regarding the Parasite and his creator. If possible, bring him directly to us.
2- Destroy any kind of interferance. The Arcanos are now considered a major threat and should be disposed of as soon as possible.
3- Dios de Diablo’s minions are a thing. Dios de Diablo himself is a different matter. Don’t dare go against Dios de Diablo. In case of he appearing directly, run away.
4- Your lifes are precious to us. Remember to live in front of everything, and if your life is on peril, don’t hesitate to run.

Whenever you are ready, go talk to Nicolau – Sora should be with him on the 4th quarters.
Mircalla Zolmao – Primera Espada

Rules for Espada mission 2!
1 – Unlike Espada Mission 1, this one is open to everyone. Hollows willing to participate, fell free to PM me. They’ll be either introduced in the Forest of Menos or be called by the Espada directly if they’ve introduced themselves before.
2 – Given the social reclusion of the 7th Espada, and the dissapearance of the 9th – I’m obliged to tell: If for X reason you till be unable to continue posting (lack of interest, personal issues, cramped fingers, etc) tell me and your character will be taken out for the time being. That way, other’s can continue with the fun.
3 – If you discover the enemies weakness, the fight is pretty much over ;) – But for plot reasons, they shall not be killed :)

[Shdo]

Decisions, decisions, it's all about decisions. Both of the missions interested him since one was to return home and to the place he had a mission only a few weeks ago while the other place had the promise of the parasite, a creature that can increase strength and regeneration areas that Ja'eq lacked.

In the end it was the nature of the mission that made him chose the menos forest, walking into a combat zone only for sightseeing is stupid.
Walking in the menos forest, a place he placed his laboratory after the defeat of los nochas a century ago, only to get something that can make Ja'eq survivability go higher was VERY appealing.

"To the menos forest then. Kayder, follow."

[Kolbertt]

The lab door opened. The sole person inside was a man with long black hair dressed in chinese clothes and busy working with different flasks of different liquids. Some containing small hollows, and others simply keeping body parts of unknown origin...

"Doctor! Are you the one sent for this mission? What a wonderful surprise"

Nicolau gave a quick glance at them both. The Sexta Espada had brought up a Fraccion with him... The same Muffin like creature Elexender had sit up during the Espada meeting.

"Our special guest is taking up a bath. He should be ready anytime now. Meanwhile, do not touch anything please... You see, everything is quiet fragile. Though I take it for granted you DO understand the sanctuary that is a lab... I wouldn't say the same of your companion...

Also, there's something for you in that table"

He pointed with long fingers to a table separated from everything. There, in an elaborate flask with golden borders, a crimson liquid floated innocently.

[Shdo]

"what a wonderful collection you got here, I wasn’t aware that there are other espada who aren’t busy in playing with stuffed animals and games of tag, this is very refreshing…" he approached the some of the tubes and jars, staring into what was inside, "and don’t worry about my assistance, I gave him sedatives before we left, it will take some time for him to…annoy."



Also, there's something for you in that table"


"oh, this is most splendid, I am so happy I didn’t had to go through the 9 levels of hell to get this one, it seems that the lower the rank of the espada the more they demand for something that will be mine sooner or later," Ja'eq took the vial and went to Kayder, "open up," Kayder opened his mouth, revealing rows of crocked teeth. Ja'eq then proceeds to shove the vial through Kayder throat.

"It will be safe inside, he is such a softy."

[Kolbertt]

"Huu... So, that little guy is actually your suitcase? Practical enough"

Nicolau continued with his flasks. The mixture of two flasks condensed into a stone he grabbed with a pair of pincers, and then threw into the fire.

"Well, Everyone has their tastes... Some complex, like my keen interest in the cause of consequence of life, the reason behind the action... While others find comfort on literature or the pleasures of the flesh...

But what about you, Dottore? What is it that moves you through the days of this endless existance? Why have you decided to come with us to this particularly dangerous mission?"

[Shdo]

"He is much more than a suitcase, his flesh killing every infection, bacteria, germ and virus. A tool inside his flesh will look slimy but will be the cleanest item on this plane of existence. He is very useful on so many levels."

"I seek perfection, one perfect thing that I can behold upon without almost dying like the last time…this parasite interest me, the promise of enhanced strength will greatly help me since this body is…inadequate to my needs, and besides the forest is a nice place, I had a lab in the eastern side, and it was there where I perfected my hunting skills."

[halfnhalf]

-Elsewhere in Hueco Mundo, in an undisclosed location near the Menos forest-

Isamu rose up from the sands, to hear annoying and quite frequent spikes in vocal patterns. It was a conglomerate of noise that Isamu couldn't understand at first but once the sand poured out of his mask, the voices became lucid and the vocal patterns turned into conversation; however, Isamu was not sure if he was hearing the voices correctly as they were irregular and making no sense at all.

Isamu turned his head in the direction of the voices, and about ten feet away was a hollow dressed in a magicians outfit surrounded by an audience of about thirty hollow. The voice was coming from the dressed hollow, although this hollow appeared more human than hollow, Isamu knew this creature was a hollow through instinct and the feature that they all commonly shared: the hole in the body. As the sound became more clear and Isamu focused in more, words were distinct and it was now clear what the little dressed hollow was saying though it was not really clear as much was being said but nothing came of the speech.

It was much like ranting, something about having to do things with a picture of your grandma. Isamu wasn't sure if he heard it right so he decided to move closer to the speaker, entering the crowd of hollow. Isamu moved as close as he could into the crowd however, it was still quite a distance so this little dressed hollow was not totally visible although his voice was clear. Sure enough that is exactly what he was saying but unlike Isamu the crowd understood him and obeyed him, whatever action that may be. Maybe Isamu had only heard the last part so that it didn't make sense but the speech seemed to have a pause now as the hollow around him began to start some task he had told them to do.

Isamu began to pay attention to the hollow around him. After a fews days in Heuco Mundo, he had learned when to pick a fight and when not to. He had learned that a hollow can satisfy the hunger for days, and that many hollow cooperated rather than just devour each other endlessly. He had also learned vaguely of a hierarchy, a ranking or system, of evolution; however, Isamu's knowledge of this was very low and he didn't bother to ask his previous victim anymore. Isamu's eyes fixed on the hollow that stood out in the crowd. He saw many "regular" hollow but his eyes ignored them, they began to fix on bigger obviously much stronger hollow. He was unsure how they got like that, maybe they were born like that, maybe they were not of the same origins as him. He surveyed the hollow around him again, but now he noticed the solemn and unmotivated faces on them...they were no more than henchmen! They did not have nearly the intelligence of Isamu's level...an advantage he could take care of if something went down.

Then the silence was broken as the little dressed hollow stood up and began shouting random demands.

"Move over there!" he shouted. "No not there! Over there!" although he shouted and the crowd followed his orders...the vague pointing of a finger did not specify a spot.

"Bring me some food!" The henchmen, all of the mindless hollow followed the orders and brought the dressed hollow a few dead salamander type hollow.

"Bring that over here!" apparently something was being brought to him however with his random and erratic orders it was obviously taking some time.

"Bring me over there! theres more shade!"

"No, no, no this does not do! I can't stand this sand! Bring that sand from over there"

As more and more pointless orders were thrown around...Isamu saw no point in staying and left the group as they picked up sands from the spot where the little dressed hollow had vaguely addressed. The sand was the same and the shade was no where to be found...what a strange hollow. As Isamu looked back, behind his back to see the former group that he had just left, a box was finally at the little dressed hollow's feet however the box was impossible for Isamu to see inside of. He wasn't sure if it was the distance or something else entirely that was blocking his view.

[Kolbertt]

"Interesting theory, Dottore... Perfection is an "Interesting" goal. It's the triumph of one, and the fall of millions. This perfection you seek, may be your success, or just a step for your opponents to advance... MIMI!"

A small female Arrancar with a pair of oversized googles, and black hair tied in a bun.

"Did you call, Nicolau-Sama?"

"No Mimi... I just felt like shouting in the wind your beautiful name. Yes, that was sarcasm, my dear girl. Take this samples to the cryogenia room. I'll have to interrupt our experiments for a while. If you fail to keep everything to my taste, I'll sedate you like this wonderful assistant. Any objection?"

"Will it change anything?"

"No"

"Then no objection"¬¬

"I think I'll steal your idea of a sedated assistant, my dear Dottore... By the way, do you happen to know what happened to the other Espada? It looks like there's an abnormal amount of movement in the area we are heading for"

0====0
Meanwhile, somewhere else...

"Hey, you, new guy"

Izamu turned around to see a small prairie dog-like Hollow.

"Me, along with other hollows from around, are planning to take down that shrimp... Vradzee has gotten on our nerves with his ridiculous orders and stupid demands. He is in no way fit to be our leader, much less fit to be an Arcano. We'll organize our attack in two waves, the first one will take down his guard of Arrancars, while the second one will take kill him. You'll recognize the signal when you see it... You are free to join, but if you betray us... You'll be eaten"

[halfnhalf]

Fully aware of the frequent plots to eat stronger hollow using many smaller ones, this particular one struck Isamu as something strange. It was too organized, too smart...perhaps finally there was someone actually capable of keeping a conversation with him and understanding his ideas.

"Vradzee? is that the little dressed hollow's name?

From the looks of it...there were some smart hollow within the crowd...waiting and plotting for a chance to usurp the little dressed hollow. Isamu found the so called "shrimp" to be an unfit leader...too stupid...too bossy...too....small. Isamu was fond of the idea to take down this hollow...he was itching to find out if he was strong and why this hollow was different from the others. Arcanos....Isamu had never heard of that...even from his victims of which he squeezed information about this new place before they were eaten. Given the context in which the word was given it must be linked to a position of power...separate yet connected to being a leader. Perhaps of a different title but same role and benefits?

Despite the new word...Isamu knew a little more about the word arrancar. He knew that they were of a higher position, stronger hollow but he didn't know how they got like that or what distinguished them from the regular hollow. Isamu had his theories but he kept them to himself....he would ask another victim...another time, however...the title arcanos...he would ask of now.

"Ok, I shall take part in your little plan. I take it you have quite a big force. I shall help you kill this Vradzee and once I'm done...I will let you do what you want with him...but only on two conditions: First, you will tell me of this arcanos...and second....you will make me your leader.

[Hiraeth]

Durante stalked through the corridors of Las Noches, two of his fraccion trailing behind him. He'd decided that he didn't want Otso slowing him down, especially with how the big guy was acting now. It seemed that Otso hadn't yet caught up with the fact that he'd been teleported, he was acting like he was still somewhere else, walking into walls and through walls and generall destroyed Durante's quarters. It had been funny for the first half hour, but after that it had become annoying, and Durante had been forced to restrain Otso to give his tiny mind a chance to catch up to his body.

He reached the medical bay and opened the door with a flick of his wrist. He stepped through and nodded at the two Espada inside "Nicolau, Dottore, I apologise for my tardiness. I hope I haven't delayed your plans too much."

[Kolbertt]

Nicolau merelly glared at the newcome. He recognized that voice from before... And the lack of random destruction re-assured him. To have Otso running free in his lab... Well, the thought of it made him shudder.

"Ex-Octava! What a pleasent surprise"

Nicolau refused to believe in fate. Something as abstract and ilogical as "Fate" didn't fit in his way of thinking... However, at this kind of coincidences, shattered him. His feelings were a mixture of amusement and fear... If "Fate" did indeed exist, did it mean his way of thinking was wrong?

This confusion meant he was still far from his goal...

"I've just received a message from the Primera Espada concerning your possition on the Espada. Nothing bad, but I'll need to see your Espada Tattoo. That will give us a little time while Sora finishes with his bath..."

Thinking of which, that bastard's taking way too much :-_-

0====0

The praerie dog couldn't help but laughing

"Let me tell you, newbie. Don't knowing what the Arcanos are only gives your position as an outsider. So I'll let that slip if you join us in the attack. And about you being the leader... I'd follow you only if you prove to be worth of following."

A shriek on the distance called everyone's attention.

"It's begining. Take your position or die with the Arcano"

[Hiraeth]

Durante sketched a bow.

"The pleasure is all mine, Nicolau. I must admit I'm looking forward to working with you sir, and you Dottore. I have a feeling that watching you two in combat would be quite an education."

At the request of his superior, he shrugged and unbuttoned his white jacket, pulling it open to reveal the number eight, inked into the right side of his chest. On the opposite side was the hollow hole that all of his kind possessed.

Nearby, Sisko tried not to look at her now half-naked boss. Suvi saw what she was doing and kicked her in the ankle.

Durante wasn't particularly perturbed by the idea that he might be getting a demotion, since he wasn't in the Espada to gain rank anyway. He decided to make conversation.

"And how is Sora after his ordeal?"

[Kolbertt]

"Glad to see you had your tattoo in a NORMAL place. I've seen Tattoo's in tongues, foots, glutteus... Glad I won't be seeing anymore of you"

From out of his sleeve, Nicolau took out a device. It looked like the device humans called a "palmtop" -

He pressed the device over Durante's tattoo, the cold crystal screen pressed hard against Durante's tough skin.

"This little device here, allows someone of higher power to channel their power in a concentrated way"

Much like Alan had felt, the skin in contact with the screen warmped up...

"The Espada Tattoo... In earth, the tattoo is done by insterting ink in the upper layer of skin, the dermis. However, that wouldn't work for the primitive Espada, who lacked the technology and the materials to create a string capable of bypassing Hierro.

Instead, they solved it in the same way they solved everything, by brute force"

The warm sensation Durante felt, was soon replaced by a sharp pain. Even if he wanted to move, Nicolau was pressing the device with strenght, and kept it in place firmly.

"This tattoo, is in fact, an elegant Scar. The reiatsu of someone stronger is used to stimulate the healing of the upper layer, removing all imperfections on the skin, even a previously applied tattoo... And then, by inserting an invasive Reiatsu..."

Nicolau backed off, the device in his hand was emitting an abnormal amount of heat, and in Durante's chest, a crimson beautiful "7" had appeared.

"Instead of ink, this tattoo uses Reiatsu. Being an outside force, the body will reject it, however, that same reiatsu will preven the scar from closing. Once it starts healing, it will gain it's distinctivelly black color once the blood has clotted. Of course, the invasive reiatsu is still there, and adds the black into the tattoo. It may hurt for a while, but Mircalla is busy at the moment..."

Nicolau left the device, and went back into his private world of explanations...

"Today Espada's are stronger, and more inteligent than the previous Espadas. Mircalla-sama is able to recreate the same effect through precise and exact control of reiatsu... I'm unable of such level of perfection yet. But that's only logical"

"I think you are boring everyone, Nicolau-kun"

From a back door, entered an attractive young man. He was wearing a pair of loose white hakama and an indian styled shirt, his red hair was wet from the shower, and was dripping all over the lab.

"I hate to be so rude, but don't you think it's time we get going?"

[Hiraeth]

Durante poked his new tattoo experimentally, enjoying the stinging sensation his finger produced. "Interesting."

Suvi wandered around in front of him and inspected it "I don't like it. Eight is a better number."

He ignored her and turned to the newcomer "I believe I am responsible for the delay. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Durante Dormire, newly the Septima Espada." He bowed slightly "We've met before, although I'm not sure you'd remember me, considering the circumstances."

[Shdo]

"So he starts to go up in ranks, for his own good he better settle with the 7th position…" Ja'eq thought to himself, ignoring the explanation of how the tattoos are made, after all Ja'eq had his own method which was much more elegant.

"The red headed is right, let's move out…it might be a long trip…you see there is a problem."

Ja'eq, unlike the other espada, is really out of place when it comes to physical power, and that include speed. while his limbs are the fastest among the espada which gives him almost a god-like deflection abilities and agility to evade attacks, his stamina really don't allow him to make the long trips.

that is unless he release since then his abilities take him to a completely different level, he don't run as much as 'fall' forward, but he cant just release his zanpaktou for a little trip. someone will have to carry him. Kayder will follow on his own (see kayder abilities, wont be fun for him)

[Kolbertt]

"My... Sora dear... You've finally... decided to... join us" Killing intent oozed out from every single word. Of course, if it was caused by Sora dripping water everywhere with his wet hair, the hypocrisy and rudeness of his words, or a mixture of them all, wasn't clear.

Sora smiled foolishly, apparently unaware of the hate beams aimed at him. But then, he saw Durante...

"But of course I do remember you..." He bowed significantly "I remember most things I did when I was... Infected" His smile banished for a second when saying this, but he quickly regained it "Though I must thank you! Were it not for you, I'd still be running around Hueco Mundo naked and killing Hollows!"

"Ahem" Nicolau interrupted.

"It'd be greatly appreciated if we leave right now. Before all my lab is filled with water preferably"

He opened up one of the many flasks around, and a centipede like Hollow appeared. It floated around the room. Nicolau grabbed it and quickly ordered.

"Everyone coming, touch a part of this specimen. Those who won't stay away from it. Mimi, I order you to clean this place before I come back"

In a resigned tone, Mimi answered - "Yessir"

"ALSO" Nicolau quickly added before Sora touched the centipede "Be sure not to squeeze it too hard... It'd be... Unpleasent if any more undesired fluid contaminated the area"

(By courtesy of Mystic Serenade, and quickly colored by your servitor, here's Sora:
http://i36.tinypic.com/2pqpc0g.png - In case anyone wonders, his Hollow Mask takes the shape of an elaborate earring on his right ear. By the change of looks? Basically, because when possesed by the parasite, Sora was dirty and naked. Now, he's clean, taken care of, and had a haircut)

[Hiraeth]

Sisko reached up and tugged Durante's sleeve "Are we coming too sir?"

He glanced down "Of course! What would I do without my two favourite girls by my side?"

At that comment Sisko blushed, and Suvi rolled her eyes and sprang up onto his shoulder. Then he stepped forward and all three of them touched a part of the creature. Durante's lip curled in distaste at the texture of it. It felt unclean, and he suddenly felt a strong desire for a shower, however, he reasoned, it was too late to back out now.

He looked at Ja'eq expectantly.

[Shdo]

"Come Kayder, let's go…" Ja'eq moved in and grabbed one of the little centipedes while Kayder grabbed Ja'eq robe, "I am ready."

Ja'eq likes to have new cloths and masks every now and then. This time he had tight Chinese style clothing, fully white, and a mask with a cartoonish smile painted on it, in contrast with his serious, chilling gaze. A long sword was tied to his left side, a complete different design from his regular blade which was nowhere to be seen.


(btw, i changed something in my profile, giving more order to the ability list of Ja'eq)

[Kolbertt]

Once everyone was touching the centipede, Nicolau closed his eyes.

Everyone was engulfed in a red blinding light. When it tuned down, everyone noticed the scene had changed. From the Nicolau's elaborated laboratory, everyone had been teleported to a small room Durante would probably recognize from his visions...

Everything looked old and abandoned, and there was no way of telling how much time had passed since Sora's last visit to his own place. The place was dirty, and the remnants of a Shinigami still decorated the walls. At this sight, Sora paled.

"This, is the place Sora used to live in. From here, we'll spread around in a kilometre radius. Sora will lead us to the exact spot where he met the Scientist, and from there, we'll spread in a kilometre radius. Memorize this place location, since it'll be our meeting point.

Teams will be decided once we get a clearer image of the situation. Our goal, Espadas, is the creator of the parasite. If we find any kind of annoyance, we destroy it. Once we are separated, we'll let the others know of our success by means of a Cero to the sky. You may also ask for reinforcements this way, but I cannot grant they'll arrive before more enemies do...

Also, remember we are underground. A too powerful Cero may create a sandfall... Use that to your advantage.

Now, once Sora..."

Sora was too shocked to answer back.

*sigh* Once Sora snaps out of it, we'll leave"

"It's OK... Let's go"

Having said that, the red-haired arrancar left his former home as fast as he could, quickly followed by everyone else.

[Shdo]

"Not exactly a good taste in decoration ill say," Ja'eq commented on the pieces of shinigami that were all over the walls, "stripes are better."

Nicolau explained the mission and how they will contact one another as well as mentioning the fact they are underground, a landslide could be very helpful, especially in Ja'eq case. He followed the others with Kayder, "will we split into two teams or three?"

[Hiraeth]

Durante nodded at Ja'eq's comment "I agree, far too messy. Although it does smell nice..." He inhaled deeply and followed after the others, a faint smile on his face.

"As for splitting into groups, it should go without saying that my fraccion are next to useless as fighters, however feel free to pair them with whomever you wish. Sisko has healing capabilities, and Suvi is good for surveillance purposes."

[Shdo]

"My friccon will be useless without me, so he will go with me," Ja'eq examined the rest of the 'lower' Arrancar with a cold gaze, "I don’t care who and if anyone comes with me, as long as they are not idiots, I hate idiots."

"Ja'eq-kun," Kayder pulled Ja'eq shirt, "I don't think we are in the same room," he gave a blank stare at Ja'eq and Ja'eq sighed at kayder.

[Kolbertt]

"It's here, Nicolau" - Sora pointed a hole in a massive quartz tree. The hole was big enough to work as a cave, and dark enough to not allow even a glimer of whatever was inside. Once the team got close enough, they saw it was not because of darkness, but because there was a black veil covering the entrance to the Tree.

"It looks we won't have to lo..."

A sudden crush made Nicolau silent. From behind the veil, a humongous horned monster appeared. The were-Goat moved forward, making the branches of the quartz tree crack under it's weight.

"Looking for something, Espada?"

The monster moved with a steady step. It's yellow eyes gave sign of inteligence, but the complete mask, and the hole in the middle of it's thorax made it clear it was a Hollow.

"'Cause it looks this place suddenly became popular with your kind" - The goat unleashed a wave of reiatsu, strong enough to move even the Espada...

"Sexta, Septima - I'll need your help..." Nicolau had realized, the amount of Reiatsu this monster had released, was just a mere fraccion of its power. However, before he even took his Zanpakuto in sight, both Durante and Ja'eq had been rammed out of the branch. A pair of ethereal goats floated back to the monstrous Hollow, and entered one on each horn.

Deprived of any actual useful help, Nicolau took the most logical approach. Take the fodder out of scene as to avoid unnescesary casualties. Using the Centipede it had used before as a whip, Nicolau grabbed Sisko and Suvi, who were together, and thew him in the distance. He did the exact thing with Kayder, but Sora was nowhere to be seen...

Tch

"You know what Chumpy... I hate it when people interrupt me"

"Mehehehe... I'll write that in your epitaph"

0===0

Ja'eq managed to stop in middair, but just in time to see a massive ball of red-energy appearing in exact spot everyone was only seconds before... Just miliseconds later, he was tackled down by a pair of Arrancars who had almost fainted due to the strong reiatsu, and then thrown violently in the wrong direction.

Ja'eq, thrown out of balance by Sisko and Suvi, crashed against a tree in the distance. The crimson battlefield now looked like a marble, but closer, a marching sound could be heard.

0===0

Unlike Ja'eq, Durante was knocked down unconcious by a massive blob who hit him straight in the head.

It was strange, even in the silence of the forest, a small rustling sound could be heard. Kayder also did seem to listen to it... It was as if someone moved in the shadows near the duo...

[Shdo]

Ja'eq opened his eyes after being flailed around like a rag doll and found himself staring at something; they were big and soft and stuck right in his face. He wouldn’t mind to stay there and watch them for some more time if not for the noise of a upcoming foe in the distance.

"no time," he shoved dazed Sisko from his face and Suvi from his legs and stood up and stretched like only he can, causing cracking noises from his back and limbs, "something is coming…I wish you good luck," he said to the still dazed girls and started to move toward the opposite direction from the incoming enemy.

"Rasgar sin excepción, Escalpelo…" he said as he walked behind a tree and continued to descend into the ground, away from enemy and friend alike, he will show up when HE see fit. As for the girls, there are many fish in the sea so who cares if one or two get eaten by a shark?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"WAKE UP!" Kayder yelled at the unconscious espada, "ITS COMING!" in his fear Kayder blew wind from his rear ending which caused a massive backlash of horrible smell, and a very strong stimulate, Durante was compelled to wake up.

[Hiraeth]

[OOC: LOL! Shdo I love you :D]

Sisko had frozen in shock as she'd ended up on top of the 6th Espada. Sure she'd be killed as soon as he realized the situation, she'd been incredibly surprised that he'd chosen instead to stare at her chest and then disappear off behind a tree. She rolled her eyes "Men" and glanced down at Suvi who was glaring balefully in the direction of the 6th.

Then the two girls heard something approaching, and Suvi grinned up at Sisko "Run idiot, I'll protect you..."

She turned and began sprinting towards where the danger was coming from, then dove through the sand wall, collapsing the tunnel towards Sisko, who shrieked and sprinted off in the direction the Sixth Espada had vanished in.

"Dottoreeeeeeeee!"

..........................


Durante awoke to an unpleasant odour and instinctively began backing away from it. It wasn't until he realised that it was actually coming from the Sixth Espada's fraccion that he stopped his retreat. "Kayder? What's coming?"

Suddenly his senses seemed to start working again. Something was definitely approaching down the corridor. He grinned and raised his hands from the side of his body, gathering crimson energy to his fingertips, which were pressed together. A moment later he raised his hands forward and blasted his twin ceros down the tunnel, into the ceiling somewhere above the approaching creature. He heard the roof collapse and smiled with satisfaction. Somewhere in his mind he heard a voice raise the possibility that he'd just trapped his own fraccion, or one of the Espada. He ignored it, reasoning that an Espada should have escaped, and if it was one of his fraccion who'd become trapped then they deserved to be dead.

Besides if worst came to worst he'd just blame it on Kayder. He glanced sidelong at the fat arrancar and wondered how of their entire party he'd been the one to get stuck with the ugly little runt.

He reached down and patted the thing on the head "Kayder, you are a fantastic pimple on the face of an otherwise beautiful but uninteresting world. I know of no other creature who would dare awaken an Espada with flatulence alone, and I respect that you did."

He turned and looked down the long sandy tunnel "Well then, shall we go for a stroll?"

Without waiting for an answer he headed off.

[Kolbertt]

Sora, who had jumped directly after Durante when the goats rammed him out of sight, had remained hidden on the upper levels of the tunnel he'd been thrown at.

The sudden appearance of Ceros didn't really make him comfortable... Luckily, the time he had spent with the parasite had made his body extremelly durable and tough. His movements were nimble and easily dodged the Ceros not aimed at him... But the general odor of the area almost knocked him down. [i]Havin' a sharp nose has it's disadvantages... I guess[/]

Knowing he'd be further attacked if he remained hidden, Sora jumped out of hiding, appearing before Durante and Kayder.

"Saludos, Espada... So... I apologize for hiding back there... Thought I'd get attacked or something in the confusion... But guess it went the other way around... Tchehe...

So, from what I could recall, Nicolau and his opponent are trapped in a red energy globe. I cannot really say what's going on there. The Doctor and those sweet ladies were thrown the other way... Not that it matters, since it looks the path we took here has colapsed.

I guess we have no choice but to continue forward..."

While going on the road, Sora finally gathered the courage he needed to say

"By the way... Thank you... for saving me... I mean. With all the stuff going on... I guess I didn't really show any kind of gratitude... So yah... Thanks for saving me... It was horrible, I could feel that parasite trying to force my body into Resurreccion state to fully exploit my powers... The strain, the damage, every time I was damaged, I felt it. The wounds quickly went away, but the pain remained. That kind of power... it's not worth the price"

Sora spoke in a rush. It was obvious he had been eager to vent with someone. Nicolau hadn't seem to be the most talkative of companions, nor one eager to hear. So Sora had to keep it down. Nicoalu's fraccion, Mimi, made was a wonderful listener, but she was constantly being bossed around by Nicolau...

Even yet, Sora couldn't bring himself to dislike Nicolau. After all, he had been the one to administer the medicines and done other stuff, that made the pain go away...

"So yah... Thank you"

The road they were walking soon opened up. They were in a different section of the Forest of Menos... It was hard to tell where, since the tunnel they were walking was just a hole in a wall of stone. The Quartz trees didn't grow in this area, and by some mysterious and unexplainable reason, sun shined in this place, giving it a warm and desert feeling to it.

"Hey... I think I know this place!" Sora suddenly said... "I cannot really recall where though..."

In the distance, a figure moved... The black robes and the Zanpakuto made it undeniable. This was a shinigami. At i'ts sight, Sora jumped out towards it without a word, leaving Durante and Kayder at the entrance of the cave. If Durante recalled, he'd realize he had also seen this Shinigami somewhere before

His exit had been rather noisy, with a poorly performed Sonido that spreaded reiatsu in the air. Shadows in the distance approached... Gillians had seen this outburst, and were hungry...

0===0

The marching noise continued. As Ja'eq emerged, it looked like a parade of sorts... All kind of Hollows and low-grade Arrancars were marching with rythm. In the middle of this freakshow, a small being, with an oversized Mage-Hat, a staff and a blue robe, showed signs of royalty. His bluffing was obvious from his movements, and even if he was too far away to hear his words, Ja'eq was certain of something. He was standing directly over a chained box.

Back in the distance, Ja'eq could also see traces of blood all over the place. As if a large quantity of Hollows had suddenly exploded...

Sisko and Suvi appeared behind him. They couldn't emerge from inside the branches, but they moved among the branches, following Ja'eq's movements to guide them.

(OOC: Halfnhal - Make it as your Hollow didn't participate in the attack. Essentially everyone jumped out at the lil' wizard dude, and... failed miserably:XD)

[Hiraeth]

Durante waved a hand absently at Sora's thanks "Don't mention it. I was happy to help out a fellow arrancar."

They walked in silence for a few minutes, until Sora's abrupt exit in the direction of the shinigami. Durante had to restrain himself upon seeing the black-robed figure, it awakened a yawning gap deep in his chest that he had thought he'd overcome. Something manic entered his eyes, and if Kayder had had the intelligence to notice it he would perhaps have been frightened.

The appearance of numerous gillian distracted him momentarily, but he wasn't particularly concerned by them. They were big, slow and clumsy, with his speed it would take him minutes to slaughter all of them. He despised their kind, barely more intelligent than simple hollows, and no less hungry.

Silently he released the control on his reiatsu, letting it bloom outwards, it was a message to the gillian, get out of my way and live, or take me on and die. Most of them backed off, but some of the greedier gillian kept coming. With a feral grin Durante readied his sword and dove towards them. In less than a second the first was sliced in half mercilessly, then the second was torn into pieces. He continued to carve a bloody swathe through them, still remaining in his sealed form, as to release would mean to risk having to see inside the creature's heads.

.............................................


Sisko reached Ja'eq just as her sister emerged from the ground. Sisko turned to ask her what happened and Suvi shrugged "Meh, got there and the fourth was in a ball of energy with some enemy. Nothing I could do so I came back."

Sisko nodded "Oh."

She squeezed forward between the branches until she reached Ja'eq, Suvi on the other hand simply lowered herself under the ground and tunnelled towards him.

Sisko gathered her courage and addressed the terrifying man "Ah, Ja'eq-sama, since Durante-sama isn't here, do you have any orders for us?"

[Shdo]

Kayder saw everyone leaves…so he sat down and started to pick his nose.

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"Actually there is," Ja'eq turned his face toward Sisko, the face mask cartoonish smile made it even more menacing, "you see that box over there…doesn't it look interesting? Let's grab it! You my dear will be a distraction, I…you better hope you run fast, draw as many hollows as possible,"
He then turned his gaze toward Suvi, "and while I take care of those who are still here, YOU will take the box the moment that creature walk a single step away from it. Take it as far as possible and I'll go grab Sisko, if she is still alive that is."

"Do any of you have inability to carry this mission? You being too slow to run or you don’t have the strength to take this box?"

[Hiraeth]

Sisko nodded reluctantly "Run fast. I can do that. I'm good at running fast."

Suvi looked up at Ja'eq in disgust "Why would I-"

As usually happened before she got a chance to say something stupid, Sisko sacrificed her hand to gag her sister, "Of course she'll do it! It'll be fine, because if it isn't I'm sure that you will kill us sir!"

She smiled up at him "So should I just start running? Or send a cero at them to distract them and then start running? Or do you have another suggestion?"

[Shdo]

"Oh, I won't kill her or you for being insolent…she would wish to be killed but it won't happen so fast, all those organs and bones are useful for research and operations and I won't allow a wasteful use of 'MY' working materials for the sake of vengeance, I am not a barbarian. So don’t worry I won't KILL any of you for fun…only for necessity, I hope that reassured you," he knew it was creepy and that made him happy.


"And you…Suvi right? You don’t have any reason to complain, if someone have a reason it's her for baiting an army of hollows…you only need to lift a box, is that beyond your abilities?"


They will need to work together for a while, if so then she need to either fear him or respect him and respect is flickering, "but If you must have a reason to do my bidding it's this," he lifted his hand from inside the tree and approached it to Suvi chest. First the cloth and skin started to redraw from the middle black finger and then the flesh and bone exposing her internal organs. The extreme long fingers started to stretch and grabbed Suvi heart.


"I don’t know what you friccons and espada think of me, maybe 'is he weak? He have to be because he is only a Gillian type' but I can assure to you that the espada that can just snatch your heart," He said that in a cynical voice, "Is a true horror in the full sense of the word," he started to squeeze the little heart, causing her pain, "you will respect my authority and remember that unlike the other Arrancar and espada, I CAN follow you even below ground and my movement is motionless and quiet…I am a ghost," he released her heart and retreat his hand, the flesh and skin returned to their usual place, no harm done on the outside.


"As for the distraction, I don’t care if you seduce them, put sugar on your head and bait them or kill half of them and make the rest chase you, just do your best to get as many as possible out of our way. But if you must have a suggestion because of some lack of enzyme in your brain that hurt your creativity then ill suggest appearing wounded before them, cause them to wake their sleazy predatory\male instinct at you and then run with them, sending a cero or a bala as a defense mechanism, pissing even more of them. That way you seduce, bait and anger them, sure victory."

[Kolbertt]

(Just for everyone knowing, the locked box is big enough to have a person there. Also, I'll post on both sides once Sisko and Suvi march into action)

[Hiraeth]

Sisko released her sister and Suvi burst out into a fit of childish giggles "Hehehe you think I will fear what you can do to me? All you can do is kill me, or cut me up, stupid skinny man, compared to what the Boss can do to me, you are nothing!"

She actually sat down on the ground and began to roll around with her giggles. Then suddenly she reigned them in and stood up "Understand this you great white moron, you can kill me, you can tear up my body, you can do horrible horrible things to me but you will never touch me here." She tapped a pudgy finger to the side of her head. "And that is why I am not afraid of you. But for now it is useful for us to work together, you want Sisko to pretend to be injured yes? She's a useless liar, far easier to actually injure her." With her right hand she conjured a cero and aimed it at her sister's arm.

It collided and Sisko shrieked. Suvi smiled happily "See! Much more realistic, she can still run too."

With a pop she vanished underground leaving her sister to face the wrath of the sixth Espada. Sisko clutched her bleeding arm and turned to him "My most humble apologies Ja'eq-sama, but my sister is completely insane. The only people she trusts are me an my brother, and the only person she'll take orders from is Durante-sama. When he came to recruit us, she was the only one who fought him, and he attacked her in his released form. It was the only time I've seen anyone reign in her madness, it was utterly terrifying seeing my sister sitting there like a doll, placid and not aggressive, he dragged her into his mind, and the things that he did there she won't talk about. Not even to me."

She backed away and sketched a bow "Please don't kill my sister, sir, she can't help it. I'll go and distract the hollow army now."

[Shdo]

"Before you go, there is a chance that you will die so I do need to know a couple of things; first…you said that the only thing that scared her was her master attack? When did it happen?" (waiting for an answer)

"and secondly…if you do live and she as well, tell her this, even her mind isn’t defended and she gave me exactly what I wanted to know," he approached Sisko head with his finger causing the same effect as been done on Suvi chest, "now I don’t have a bad impression of you so…this part of the brain is usually connected to good memories…" with his finger tip he pressed against a random part of Sisko brain, causing a random memory to surface for her and to make her feel like it was happening again vividly. (You can choose if it’s a bad or good memory; the human brain is made for trial and error)

"And a second gift," he moved further in, to the core of her brain, touching gently on some parts of her primal brain, "while memories change from one person to the other, this part is the same," as he touched that part, the pain in Sisko arm dimmed a great deal, "until I can patch you up from your sister insanity, and don’t worry, I didn’t harmed anything, I am proficient with this procedures, just look at my friccon. Now go…and good luck."

[Hiraeth]

Sisko tried to remember, "I think it was around two years ago."

She paled as he stepped forward and placed his hand in her head, trying to hold herself as still as possible until he removed it. "Ah, thank you, sir, for showing me that." She had never felt the desire to wash behind her eyes before, but suddenly she wanted to pull out her brain and scrub it until she couldn't feel his touch on it anymore. It only made her more disgusted that the memory he'd touched upon was one of her beloved master, his presence in her skull was a violation, one that she'd been powerless to resist.

She stopped herself from explaining the difference between Ja'eq's abilities and her masters. Better that this man think himself superior, that his 'mental' abilities were the same as Durante's. She bowed again, keeping her feelings of disgust from her face, and turned towards the mass of hollows. Crouching down she circled around towards the front of the pack, so she'd have a clear line of flight once she was outside of the trees.

She dug a finger deep into her wound, increasing the blood flow and allowing it to splash onto the ground behind her. Some of the hollows in the group scented the coppery fluid and began to growl and jostle one another. When she'd reached the ideal position she forced herself to stumble out into the open and continue bleeding along the ground in front of them. It was only when the eye of every creature in the front line was upon her that she allowed herself to stop, and, with a look of terror that was in no way feigned, turn and begin to run.

[Kolbertt]

At the sight of a damaged soul. Bleeding profuselly and claiming to be eaten, the Hollows in the parade jumped out.

"Wait! Wait at once!" The little wizard shouted.

"Don't run like Prince Charming in the quest of a romantic love! Even if you reach her, you'll have to face the wrath of the Orange Citrus Staff for going against the orders of the simply insane king!... You! The ones who remain!! Go get them! It's easier to find a needle in a straw if you don't loose track of it"

And that way, the hungry Hollows run after Sisko, tempted by an easy strong soul, and the remaining Arrancars runned after them. In the whole, all that remained was this little guy standing over the mysterious box...

0===0

In the middle of the massacre, Sora suddenly jumped out and started killing random Hollows. Swinging his sword wildly, he beheaded the Gillians while laughing out in a slightly insane way...

"Kyahahahaha!!"

The blood rained down. The Gillian bodies felt one after the other while Sora laughed. The remaining Menos instinctivelly developed an emotion stronger than their hunger... An irrational fear. One by one, the shadows dissappeared into the darkness.

"Excuse that Espada. I got a bit carried away there. Kyahahaha... Also, I've found something strange I need you to check out..."

He pointed somewhere in the dark forest where the Shinigami had dissappeared. Without awaiting for an answer, he turned on his back and headed that way.

[Hiraeth]

Durante felt a slight frown crease his forehead at the other man's actions. His bloodlust the Septima Espada could appreciate, but what he did not appreciate were allies who randomly appeared, then disappeared, then reappeared for no apparent reason. Well Suvi did that often, but that was just how she was and he expected it. His initial impressions of Sora had been that the man was much more stable than his headcase of a fraccion. He made a mental note to keep an eye on him.

Sheathing his sword he strode over to the other arrancar as Sora pointed off into the distance. Durante coughed awkwardly "Ah, the shinigami from earlier?"

He tried to make the question seem offhand.

[Shdo]

"They are a sorry lot aren’t they?" a voice came from behind the sitting wizard being but there was no one there.
"What does it matter that you are strong when you are surrounded by idiots?" this time the voice came from the tree tops.
"Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill…sorry…seen it in a movie, had to try…" this voice sounded like it came from the front of the wizard.

"So tell me, what is it, in that box?" that noise came from below, where a little lizard hollow stared at the wizard, "and does it worth more or less than your life?"

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Trying to catch up with his faster and more agile partner, Kayder failed miserably, running with his hands flailing around him and stumbling into the ground.
"Hmm…what's this?" something hard hit his face, something besides of ground. Kayder started to clear the ground, almost franticly as if something was compelling him to dig, ordering him.

In the ground he found a door.

[Kolbertt]

"Don't know, he dissappeared" Sora's attitude bordered on rude, completelly contrasting on the previous shy and respectful attitude towards Durante.

"You won't believe what I found, It's so strange to find one of these in Hueco Mundo"

Sora lead the way, until finally they were face to face with a fruit. A humongous (About the size of a grown up man in fetal position), bulbous and juicy fruit...

"This, Espada, is my offrend. For taking that parasite away from my body and giving me a chance to work for you as your Fraccion. I bet it's delicious!"

0===0

"As a rose covers itself in torns to look more beautiful. Like the long lost brother of the princess, It was he who would chance the perilous journey through blistering cold and scorching desert, traveling for many days and nights, risking life and limb to reach the dragon's keep... A keep I keep to myself.

Your attempts to scare me are futile. Futile like the attempt of a secondary character facing the main villain. I am the king, and you are but my horse."

He pointed to the sky at the same time a snake emerged from under the box. It covered the wizard for a second before starting to float above him in circles. The snake bit it's tail, and changed shape one more time, now resembling a massive "8" which spinned above him.

"My name is Vradzee. I'll be your judge. Your jury, and your executor!"

[Shdo]

The wizard mumbling stopped as a gigantic snake came out of the ground, clearly an attempt to impress people, a melodramatic person as it seems.

Games aside it's time to show the differences between a hollow and a espada. Since this vradzee isn’t the Diablo vastrorode then there is little to worry about. But the snake wasn’t made of flesh, so there was little reason to concentrate on it. Ja'eq will show his abilities directly on the wizard but first…

"Keep looking on the sky king, it's going to be a rainy day," a pale hand sprouted from the ground, like a bleached branch, pointing to the sky, "Cero."

The purple beam of energy hurled to the sky, following the distinct noise of a cero. A rain of sand and debris came down on the area.

[halfnhalf]

The prairie dog hollow displayed his ignorance of Isamu's precarious impressions of people and this prairie dog hollow who refused to inform Isamu about something that he thought was a pressing matter infused Isamu's mind with a bad image of this hollow. This impression spread like a virulent idea through his head, acting like a catalyst to the ideas of this hollow and his follows as HIS own follows; those ideas along with ideas of aiding this hollow were diffused and discarded into the forgotten and corrosive recesses of Isamu mind.

He returned back into the situation, the world in front of him, out from the endless void of his mind. He stared at the prairie dog hollow, then back at the little dressed hollow, both with faces of disgust and inferiority. He looked at his blade, raised it and then rotated it parrallel to the sands that underneath. There was a drawn out silence broken minutes later by the impatient prairie dog hollow who ground his teeth as his comrades were attacking and being attacked.

"Dog hollow, I cannot accept your offer, for two reas..."

Isamu's speech was broken by the claws of the former friendly and now hostile prairie dog hollow. The claws were met by the black blade of Isamu. Isamu held his stance and held the attack though it was becoming increasingly hard to.

"As I was saying, the two reasons are: that you are fit to fight along side of me...you inferior aphonic weakling! You are not ready to lead and are no use of continuing to be in my presence. The reason for this, is my second reason. You may scuff at this opinion yet the battle behind you serves as enough evidence of your immaturity and lack of experience....a lack of the mastery of war. You can continue to fight me, though you may kill me, your actions will have no purpose to them except that they helped your enemy win."

The prairie dog hollow looked behind him and saw the bloodshed. The massacre of his followers, and little damage they inflicted upon the enemy. The hollow wished to tear Isamu apart however, the lives of his comrades were of more importance. If they could win, they would stop the teerony of the incumbent magician hollow, but that could wait, the killing of a lowly hollow would only take a second out of this battle that could last for hours. He turned around to swipe his claws, now not restraining his power behind him, but they met no object except the course flow of the sand: Isamu had disappeared.

Isamu had dug himself into the sand and quickly found a new and safe position. It was a mechanism, a survival technique that he had learned through the harsh dangers of this new world. When quite a distance away, he popped his head up only to find a pool of blood draining into the tiny crevices of the sands along side the decomposing body's of the former resistance army. Isamu scanned the bodies, most of them were being devoured by other hollow. Isamu's eyes found their target, the body of the prairie dog hollow, torn to pieces and mangled almost beyond recognition.

Isamu dug his way towards the former hollow's scent and when he pierced the tops of the sands by the prairie dog's corpse, Isamu could see every piece that belonged to the dead hollow. Isamu gathered it for dinner, and scoured away to a safe distance and area but in relatively close distance to devour the corpse of the one who made a bad impression. Isamu felt a surge in power after the meal and a relief to the pain in his body.

************************************************** *****

BOOM! Isamu went wild at the huge surge in power nearby and an intense weight of pressure upon his body. It was something he had never felt before, Isamu now really interested in the area, sensed two ridiculously strong reiatsu signatures. Isamu didn't want to get involved, only to observe, to play it smart and devour the loser. He dug his way and revealed himself to the surface about twenty meters away from the internecine feud. The pressure was strong but Isamu had gotten use to the change in pressure as he slowly drudged his way through the sands towards the deadly fight. With each step, it took a bigger effort to move but with each step, he became resistant to the step before and now with his head above the surface of the white sands and with the pressure constant, he was getting use to it. He came close enough to see the grains of sand rain down towards the surrounding area made mobile by the huge blast of raw power send into the sky. The present tensions and pressures were of no threat; they were just a bunch poorly made fences along the path, you knock them down and they won't raise up on their own again.

(THATS RIGHT I'M BACK!, I read all of this missions posts so I'm up to date...now lets get this show on the road.)

[Hiraeth]

Durante couldn't keep the annoyance from his voice "You let him get away?"

He clenched his fist and resisted the urge to strangle Sora. "What use to me is a fruit? You know what it is really strange to find in Hueco Mundo? A shinigami!"

He forced his anger away when he heard Sora's next comment though. "As I said, it was nothing, I was happy to help a fellow arrancar. As far as you becoming my fraccion, well I'm not sure I know enough about you to trust you with that position yet." Not to mention your hair would clash horrible with the other three's pink locks he thought silently. "I'm sure you understand. But I thank you for the fruit, it looks... delicious..."

He reached out and prodded it gently with a finger.

[Kolbertt]

As Durante's finger touched it, the fruit popped open, covering Durante in a disgusting pus. The remaining parts of the fruit withered and crumbled to dust..

"Kyahahaha! IT'S DONE!! IT'S DONE!!!"

Sora jumped at Durante, raising his right hand and ready to slash Durante. Covered in a pus that was quickly hardening, Durante had little time to react... But Sora suddenly decided to stop.

"No... It won't be funny to kill an Espada in such a crude way... Call me clichéd, but I'd like to show you something..."

Sora's raised sword dissolved and resseded back into a short Nodachi. At the same time, his whole body covered on mist, and suddenly, a short haired woman wearing a blue cape took his place.

"My name is Vidar, the Popess, or Segunda Arcana. I am the discretion, the mystery, the soul... You are in our way, and for the sake of the worlds, you'll die on my hand Espada. But I'm honestly torn... Shall I grant you a death worthy of a warrior? Or shall I kill you now...

I'll grant you a death only the worst are deserving of"

The pus was quickly hardening, and soon became breakable (OOC: Imagine it as going from hard flexible plastic to egg-shell) but Vidar didn't move. Instead, she simply said "kasu; Camaleona" and the Nodachi in her hand dissappeared in a shrug of mist.

"You'll have the death of a worthless coward"

(In case you are wondering, you are unable to go Resurreccion Hiraeth:fu

Also, if you didn't see Vidar's lies, I tried to make it implicit without making it obvious ;p - But the result would have been the same)

0===0

As the rain of debris and sand felt, Vradzee and the box emerged in a massive globe of energy, with the mysterious words "LIX" engraved on them... On closer inspection, the globe looked to be encased in a red... and in every square, a small number could be seen.

"The first of five. The protection of the 100 hundred acres. Invisible until needed, but beautiful to the sight. Playing sponge, the damage from your attacks will be soaked dry by a martyr. Like the beauty lies on the eyes of the beholder, the explanation to the magicks lie on the eyes of the charmed. I am Merlin, I am Dumbledore, I am Vradzee!"

However, Vradzee coulnd't see his attacker... So he'll have to remain on the defensive for the moment...

[Hiraeth]

[OOC: Ahem. I did in fact know that it wasn't Sora, but I figured the effect would be ruined if Durante simply went *stab* and spoiled it all. So I made him poke the fruit.]

Durante rolled his eyes at the woman's posturing and threats, he had more important things on his mind like the disgusting fruit that was currently covering him and the shinigami that was probably getting away.

As soon as he felt the hard layer covering him become breakable he swung his arms and shattered it. "So you think to give me a death only worthy of a coward?"

He raised his hands and produced a pair of cero "Who is the coward, the one who is too scared of a resurreccion Espada to fight him at full strength, the one who tricks him by pretending to be someone else, the one who helps him defeat enemies and then turns on him, or the one who is manipulated in such a way." He shot one cero at her at point blank range, and aimed the other into the floor producing an explosion of sand. "No! A coward is the person who runs away when he doesn't want to fight."

Using the swirling debris to mask his escape he burst into sonido and headed in the direction where Sora and the shinigami had vanished.

[Shdo]

If Ja'eq wasn’t in a hurry he would start the stalking tactic, for hours, days, weeks, as long as needed to catch the wizard unprepared. But this isn’t the case.

"Let's see how much damage the shield can take," Ja'eq slide towards the nearby trees, entering their center and ripping it out in such way that they were cleaved from the inside, but seemed fine from the outside. Thanks to precise cleaving and the defensive position of the wizard it was easy to calculate where they will fall.
Not that it mattered, those trees are the kind that holds the world together, and they are big enough for room for error.

"Test number two commences," a gentle kick from the inside of the first tree caused it to start falling on the wizard position, tree 2 and 3 followed.

[Kolbertt]

[OOC: Yah, I noticed Isamu was in the same area as Vradzee/Ja'eq/Suvi, but since you really didn't do nothing besides getting closer, I thought it'd be better to pass on that .p Feel free to interfer on the battle if you think you got the hint to beating the first barrier]

The massive trees felt on the barrier... However, they were easily repelled back. The LIX barrier shone bright, except a particular section... However, the globe started spinning until it toned down and eventually turned invisible again.

Vradzee was confident on his defensive abilities. However, there was little he could do without seeing his opponent.

"Shit shit shit... show your face, ugly stepsister!"

0===0

Vidal couldn't help but laughing at Durante's flee. She had heard Espada's where fearless, strong, the best of the best. Yet, this one had run away as simple as that. She reformed after melting away to dodge the Cero, and by extending her limbs, she quickly run after Durante.

The forest background gave her an easier time dodging the trees, and she was quickly catching up with him.

"It's futile to run, Espada! Come and face me, you gutless coward!"

[Shdo]

"stepsister? what does that means?"

"LIX…where did I saw it before…maybe…" Ja'eq chuckled, feeling challenged for the first time in a long time, "very well, I'll play this game…"

Again Ja'eq played the same trick, causing a tree to collapse, only a single tree but this time he allowed the tree to collapse on its own weight and used the time to position himself at the right place.

As the tree hit the shield Ja'eq emerged from his hiding spot with his middle torso only and yelled, "I chose 59!" and fired a Cero at the square with the number 59…

[Hiraeth]

Durante rolled his eyes as the Arcano woman ran after him "Go away Fruit Girl, I have better things to do that waste my time on you!"

When she didn't get the hint he suddenly snapped into reverse, shooting towards her at an alarming rate. He unsheathed his sword and swung it towards her, hoping to end the fight as quickly as possible.

"What's wrong with you people anyway? If I'd known I'd have such weird people dogging my every move I'd never have joined the Espada."

[Kolbertt]

The globe spun faster than before... Shone brigher, and eventually shattered.

"Shit Shit Shit... It looks like I've miscalculated the edge of your sword... But now that I've seen your face..."

From under his robes, he took out a small decorated dagger.Not unlike the ones used in rituals... "Annoy, Confusion!"

The magician robes sill covered most of his body, but his features had changed... His ears had grown to the point where his hat felt off. His fingers grew long and thin, and a snake tail appeared. Now that his hat had felt, his face was revealed. Contrasting to his youthful voice, his face was that of a wrinkled old man. He smiled, revealing badly kept teeth.

He gathered his hands, and a white light appeared, several rows of energy appeared from it. The rows circled both him and the box, efectivelly ending up as rings. Each row, though similar to the others, was different... Going from the top to bottom, the pattern in the rings were as follows:

OIIIOOIIXOIIOOIOIXOIIOOOOIXOIIIOOIOXOIIOOOIIXOIIOI OOO

OIIOOOOIXOIIIOIOOXOIIIOIOOXOIIOOOOIXOIIOOOIIXOIIOI OII

OIIOOIOOXOIIOOIOIXOIIOOIIOXOIIOOIOIXOIIOIIIOXOIIOO IOO

OIIOOIIOXOIIOOOOIXOIIOIOOIXOIIOIIOOXOIIIOIOIXOIIIO OIO

OIIOIIOIXOIIOIOOIXOIIIOOIOXOIIIOOIOXOIIOIIIIXOIIIO OIO

OIIOOIOOXOIIOOIOIXOIIOIIOOXOIIOOOOIXOIIIIOOIXOIIIO OII

OIIIOOIIXOIIIOIOOXOIIOOOOIXOIIOOOIOXOIIOIIOOXOIIOO IOI

"The 100 acres felt victim to your deception. But like a rainbow, these rows of illusion will be your doom! SEARCH AND DESTROY!"

At this scream, the red and orange rings separated themselves from the little wizard. While the red one detached and submerged into the sand, moving at high speeds, the orange one simply floated up, following the movements of the red ring like an eye. Ja'eq could see, how the read strip approached him, almost as if it knew it's location...

0===0

Vidal couldn't believe this thing in front of him was an Espada...

"Don't you know? Espada have something we want! And we won't stop until we get it!"

Her plastic structure allowed her to easily dodge the Ceros, but with the close range sword attacks, she had no choice but to stop them... It was possible for her to regenerate, but it took a massive amount of energy to do so.

She changed the structure of her hands into a pair of blades, and intercepted Durante's sword with them both.

"Well, you don't have it, it's more like your death will summon IT"

[Shdo]

Ja'eq continued to evade the red ring, while keeping his watch on the other rings, trying to decipher the code…but he couldn’t find something that was conclusive, nothing that was more than a haunch from small differences between the rings…
Without much to do except running and guessing he went with his best bet and fired a Bala at the blue ring who stood out the most.

(if i take the code and change it such as I=1 and O=0 then we have a list of numbers, mostly 3-4-5. if i take the sums of them then i have 3x23 and 3x24 and one 27 which is blue.

when i look at it the other way around with I=0 and O=1 then sum them up i get 3x25 3x24 and one 21 which is again blue.)


((oh and this hollow? he will suffer pains beyond belief :rawr :killu))

[Hiraeth]

With his sword blocked, Durante was forced to fight dirty, he raised a cero in one hand and kicked the Fruit Girl in the stomach with his foot.

Then he released the cero at her face and rolled out of harms reach, then readied his sword and another cero. Because these cero were only made by one hand, they were twice as strong as his two handed ones were.

"Well moron you could have just asked, rather than putting that gross fruit all over me. I probably would have just handed the thing over."

He blasted his cero at her and dove forward, bringing his blade up under her guard while she was temporarily blinded by the light from the cero.

His blade he pressed into her neck "Besides you're the worst evil organisation I've ever come across. You're supposed to offer me a chance to defect over to you before you start attacking me!"

His tone indicated that he was deeply offended by this slight, as he flicked his blade down, intending to slice her open from neck to navel.

[Kolbertt]

Sensing the energy of the Bala, the blue strip started spinning at full speed, creating a blue surface where the Bala cleanly bounced off and headed back to Ja'eq.

To make matters worse, the red strip had located Ja'eq, and had managed to surround him. It was not crippling at all, and simply followed around like an Aura. However, the moment the red strip surrounded Ja'eq, the Orange strip started spinning faster and faster, and became narrower and narrower.

"The word is number. The numbers are word. From two, I create Seven! If it doesn't fit, take it out - The erasure of the annoyance is my goal. The transportation of my treasure, my role! Vradzee 1 - Trash 0"

If his eyes were as good as ever, Vradzee had also spotted a small hollow. Not the biggest of threads, but... For the moment, he'd ignore it.

0===0

The sudden change from the Espada's attitude slightly surprised Vidal... He had been so reluctant to fight before, but was so eager to do it now!

The kick took her off-balance, but the heat produced by the Cero melted away her plastic like body, giving her an easier time dodging the Cero by simply reforming around it... Her mouth reformed quickly, and while the rest of her body slowly assembled, she said:

"Fool, it's not like YOU have any control over it... Plus, I don't think your superiors would agree so kindly..."

Her eyes reformed soon enough to see the coming down blade. Her body was not yet complete, Durante's blade on her neck meant she had seriously underestimated the Espada.

Luckily for her, Durante gave her time needed to alter her structure. They were seconds only, but had Durante attacked her straight on...

"It's because we KNOW you won't be able to get what we want. Besides, we already have our little mole there. And he's much more effective that you'll ever BE!"

Durante slashed down on Vidal's body, but he realized the wound was soon closing. It was as if Durante had slashed the water surface of a river... Vidal moved closer, and slowly started absorbing Durante into her body...

"How does it feel... to be inside me?"

He would have been swallowed whole, were it not for the timelly intervention of a red flash that appeared out of nowhere and took him out of her by thrusting through her.

"Durante-Sama! Are you ok?"

Sora had appeared.

Not far away, standing in a branch, droplets of water were gathering, and Vidal's face soon appeared.

"My, my my... it's the blood haired boy"

[Hiraeth]

Durante's eyes flashed at Sora's intervention, he'd actually been in a good position until the boy had stepped in "You, stay out of this."

He turned back to where Vidal's face was reforming and in less than a second he was in front of her. "As for being inside you, it was nowhere near as much fun as I though it would be."

Before she had a chance to reply he slid a hand around to the back of her head and pressed his mouth hard against hers. Despite her shock she no doubt realized that the fluid in her mouth had the coppery taste of blood, yet she hadn't actually landed a blow on him yet.

Moments later he pulled back with a slightly disgusted look on his face "Bleurgh, it's like kissing a puddle. I hope I never have to do that again."

He spat a mouthful of blood onto the sand where it began to steam slightly. "So now just to be polite I'll give you time to reform before I attack you again, since it wouldn't be very fun for either of us if you had to spend the short time we have left together reassembling yourself."

He stood back and folded his arms "By the way, a warning for next time, if by some miracle you happen to survive me, never forget we were hollows first, arrancar second, when we use our resurreccion forms we revert back to how we were before we took on these forms. We are just as deadly when we wear the skin of humans as we are when we take on alternate shapes."

The way he smiled smugly when he said 'deadly' should have been the final clue that something was wrong. That and the fact that for some reason her body wasn't reforming as quickly as it should have been.

"Have you worked it out yet dear, sweet Vidal?"

[halfnhalf]

The pressure was loosening....becoming weaker and more tolerable, it took some time and effort but Isamu was now able to move freely with minimal restraint. It did take some time, but during this time Isamu was able to identify two of the combatants, one was the little dressed man; however, he had used some kind of power to age himself. Perhaps Isamu thought it was a sacrifice for those rings...they seemed to act like a barrier. and the other was a frail hollow who seemed to be adept shooting some kind of energy at fast speeds.

Isamu had seen it all, from the moment the frail hollow had popped up from the ground till the moment a red rind had encircled him. Isamu had noticed that the little dressed hollow spoke in an ancient way, confusing yet riddling. Out of his speech Isamu had to take some words out and decipher their meaning...after this Isamu had come to a conclusion that the little dressed hollow was putting up barriers however virtually impenetrable...they had one flaw within them. After the frail hollow shot some energy at a square in the little dressed hollow's barrier labeled 59.....Isamu soon began to understand that the little dressed hollow's barriers were like riddles, like games...where one would have to find the weakness through knowledge and wit. It was Isamu's forte....though riddles usually took him some time...he was determined to get one no matter the danger....his mind was determined.

Isamu saw the different color rings encircling the little dressed hollow and the frail hollow. Certainly the red and orange rings were hostile rings...but how was the frail hollow going to disable them. The frail hollow had already tried but the choice had been deemed wrong by the little dressed hollow and the punishment seemed sever only to get more dangerous in time. Isamu had no interest in saving the frail hollow or defeating the little dressed hollow....only completing this riddle and winning the game of wit mattered. Isamu looked at the rings closely...he concluded with the help of the frail hollow's wrong decision that the blue one was not right....but perhaps his logic was right. Isamu went over the rings and their symbols and found out the frail hollow's logic....now he would have to reapply it with his own mindset. He concluded that they meant some kind of number for each symbol as was hinted by the little dressed hollow but Isamu looked for patterns....he had alot of time, since his body was still getting use to the pressure...and then it hit him. Two turns into seven! then one turns into.....Isamu went over his logic again and when he concluded he was right....he repeated....one turns into four!

Isamu waited until the pressure felt almost natural for him, he then sprang up from the sands and revealed his body. He was sure the little dressed hollow had noticed him but had decided to over look him. Isamu now fully determined used his six legs to quickly dash right next to the little dressed hollow and using his claws, he slashed the fourth colored ring....the dark green one.

"I have completed this riddle....the answer is now revealed....I choose the dark green ring!"

Logic is this: (I assume even if my logic is wrong but I pick the right ring...I will still be technically right)

5-4-4-4-4-3 24 <being red
3-4-4-3-4-5 23 <being orange
3-4-4-4-5-3 23
4-3-4-4-5-4 24 <being dark green
5-4-4-4-6-4 27
3-4-4-3-5-5 24
5-4-3-3-4-4 23 <being pink

2nd goes with seventh, so orange goes with pink. They both have (3x4, 2x3, 1x5 and 1x23) SO first goes with fourth is red going with dark green, they both have (4x4, 1x3 and 1x5 and 1x24)

[Shdo]

Evading a Bala isn’t a problem to one such as Ja'eq (10000 defense FTW) and he nimbly evaded the rebounding Bala.
For some reason the minor hollow at the side decided to fire on the rings, but that doesn't matter to Ja'eq, if the shot will actually break the spell then Ja'eq will use it to incinerate the damn wizard and if not then he will simply try to fire his blast on a ring of his own choosing.

"Pink…its similar to the red and orange in its pattern…" he fired a Bala at the pink one but made sure that the Bala went through the red ring that sorrounded him as well.

[Kolbertt]

The red strip wasn't designed to absorb, nor to block attacks. The Bala pierced it and the ring broke. It twisted like a damaged worm in agony, and Ja'eq was free once more... Just in time, since the orange ring had narrowed to the point it looked like a spear, and lunged to the exact spot where he had been only seconds ago.

The orange spear dissembled into the code again, and took it's position of a watcher once more... Vradzee was rejoicing in the scene... until the small Hollow he had seen before broke down his spell by attacking the green ring, and landing a nasty wound in his back. Of course, lacking the balance of colors, all the other codes faded into black and eventually dissappeared - Now that his sole protection dissappeared, the Bala Ja'eq had shot him was also coming, and hit him straight in the shoulder, finally separating him from the box he was so eager to protect.

"Shit... Shit... Shit... You think the riddle's been solved? Then ANALize this!!"

Like before, Vradzee discomposed an ace of white light into seven patterns, but either because of the stress he was under, or the damage he had sustained, tha patterns appeared slightly different... From top to bottom, the colors were:

OIIOOOOI OIIIOIOO OIIIOIOO OIIOOOOI OIIOOOII OIIOIOII
OIIOOIIO OIIOIIOO OIIOIIII OIIOOOOI OIIIOIOO OIIIOOII
OIIIOOII OIIOIOOO OIIOIOOI OIIOOIOI OIIOIIOO OIIOOIOO
OIIOOOOI OIIOOOIO OIIIOOII OIIOIIII OIIIOOIO OIIOOOIO
OIIOOIIO OIIIOOIO OIIOOIOI OIIOOIOI OIIIIOIO OIIOOIOI
OIOOOIOI OIOIOOIO OIOIOOIO OIOOIIII OIOIOOIO OOIOOOOI
OIIIOOII OIIOOIOI OIIOOOOI OIIIOOIO OIIOOOII OIIOIOOO

"In a world of black and white, I create the light! From the deep tunnels of the matrix, comes your DOOM!"

The rows of color encicled him, and Vradzee started floating around... He pointed out to the small Hollow and shouted... "DESTROY!" - The RED (Hint, compare to previous attack) glyph propelled itself like a snake towars Izamu

"You'll pay for spilling the royal blood!"

[OOC: halfnhalf, you were horribly lucky :zomg But since you DID hit the correct one, I've decided to use it as an excuse to simplify the code and get Vradzee pissed off. PLUS, there's a bit of a reference there, you should get the hint anytime soon]

0====0

Once more, Vidal had underestimated her opponent. While she enjoyed teasing Sora, Durante had approached her and introduced some strange poison in her head. The liquid structure made the poison spread surprisingly fast to her brain, and her body began feeling numb...

The little strams that composed her body started falling down, and soon, she was flowing all the way out of the tree into the sand...

The sight of Vidal attempting to emerge from the sand was pathetic. The sand absorbed the water, and she lacked the mind power to do nothing but raise her hands, like looking for help. Soon, she was nothing more than a patch of wet sand...

"Durante-Sama... I apologize for not trusting your actions, but it looked like she'd attempt something, and her powers are hard to predict... There's no way to know when she'll appear from behind a tree..."

There was an ankward silence in between them two, and Sora finally asked:

"You do recognize the shape she took before, right?"

0====0

Not long after, Durante heard a familiar scream, along with a tremor that could only mean a massive amount of Hollows approached...

[Hiraeth]

Durante shrugged "I assume since you're back she was the 'shinigami' from earlier. Boy that's annoying, almost makes me want to bring her back from the dead and kill her again, but that'd be way too much effort." He reached out and ruffled Sora's hair affectionately "I'm glad you're safe, although if you run off after any more phantom shinigami I will not be pleased."

He yawned lazily "Wah, fighting is so tiring. I wish these damn Arcanos would find another Espada to bother-"

A scream interrupted him and he glanced up to see a huge column of dirt rising up from between the trees. Something was moving in front of it, a white and pink blur that didn't seem to be looking where it was going. With a crash the blur slammed into Durante, knocking him over and causing him to skid along the ground. When he opened his eyes they met a pair of green ones, one of which was glowing out of the dark socket of a skull.

He blinked "Sisko?"

"Durante-sama!" She clung to him, having finally found the one person in the forest that she trusted to protect her. He stood up, despite the arrancar girls' arms wrapped around his waist "Dearest, why are you being chased by an army of hollows?"

The thundering noise grew louder as she wiped away tears with the back of her hand "It was Ja'eq-sama's idea, he wanted me to distract them so that he could get Suvi to get this box from under a little man, and then he was going to come get me." She turned large eyes on her master "But then he didn't come! And then I ran into you..."

Durante patted her head "There there, you're safe now." The hollow army was rapidly approaching, he could see the teeth of the frontrunners glinting in the light. He turned to Sora "So Sora-kun, would you rather fight or flee?"

.............................

EDIT: [OOC: Wasn't paying attention, my bad!]

Somehow Suvi sensed that the little arrancar was no longer on top of the box. There was a sucking sound as the ground around it seemed to turn into quicksand, sucking the object away, and almost dragging Vradzee down after it.

Suvi dove deep with her prize, she wouldn't reappear until Ja'eq asked her to, and even then only if he asked very nicely...

[halfnhalf]

Title: Intuition is a big part of luck

Isamu had solved the puzzle indeed! It made him quite satisfied with his knowledge and intuition levels; however, through an unforeseen turn of events Isamu had made an enemy of whom he planned to dispose of later anyways.

[FLASHBACK TO WHERE ISAMU ATTACKED DARK GREEN RING]

His blade sliced through the air and the massive amount of wind; in mid-air Isamu had angled his body so that he faced the rings at a 130 degree angle. His blade felt smoother with every barrier of pressure that Isamu sliced through. With his momentum in full swing, Isamu could easily slice through the ring and complete the puzzle that fascinated him so. Isamu kept going and going and when the time came, his blade quickly came down upon the green ring. Isamu had seen the events before that while he was in the air, the weird energy shot that destroyed the red ring and disrupted the orange ring's guided path, and the little dressed hollow reforming and undeterred in front of him. As Isamu's blade easily cut through the ring like a piece of cake, Isamu's momentum didn't allow him to take control of his body and thus his blade came down more and into the little dressed hollow's back. Isamu could feel every tendon and muscle rip as he slashed the little dressed hollows back...he could tell that he both had completed the hollow and made an enemy right away.

[BACK TO PRESENT]

The little dressed hollow had a hatred for Isamu now, and desired his death but Isamu wouldn't let such a thing happen, especially with a new and similar puzzle up. But the puzzle was not important right now, a red glyph like the one that attacked and encircled the frail hollow was now propelling itself and swaying like a snake as it darted right at him. Isamu however, did not have such an energy shot but his blades should do. Isamu waited and planned as the red snake glyph was flying right at him. He waited for a good thirty seconds and then when it was time, he made a strife to the left and cut off the end of the ring. He didn't want to destroy it....merely understand it, so he disabled it....but it was still moving though in contorted and irregular ways.

"I'll pay for spilling the royal blood?" Isamu managed to whisper to himself..."royalty is for the blind!" Isamu made a mocking noise....and he whispered once again "plus.....royalty doesn't apply in a dog eat dog world such as this...power and intelligence are of much greater...worth."

[Shdo]

Taking the opening that the wizard offered to him, Ja'eq continued his attack, firing a Bala at the purple ring and charging a Cero in hope for the shield to dissipate again.

[Kolbertt]

Sora smiled, unsheathed his sword, and gladly said:

"I claim the big ugly one"

Swinging his sword with his left hand, he jumped into the fight, little by little clearing the path Sisko had runned through...

0====0

At the sight of seeing the box slowly drifting into the sand, Vradzee went into a rampage. He had caught himself in the heat of the battle and forgot to protect his precious trasure...

"FREEZE!" The blue ring located itself on what little could be seen from the box, and completelly halted it's movements... However, a Bala had shot the Indigo ring (I assume you meant the Indigo, since you both have called the Purple [I.E: The one from the bottom] pink before... Curse the blue visual spectre:zomg) and like before, the balance was lost.

Every ring turned black, and dissappeared. The box was completelly swallowed by the sand, and Vradzee, who was floating due to the power of the new Orange ring, felt down. The stopping power of the Bala had knocked him down, but before he could reform a new set of rings, a white ghost emerged from under the sand in front of him.

"Shit shit shit"

[Shdo]

"Shit indeed," Ja'eq said and the painted smile on his mask only made it more horrid.
"so you played games with me, you could simply answered my question back then and all this could’ve been avoided…now you will answer my questions but you won't like it…not at all."

One of the three legs of Ja'eq grabbed the cursing hollow by the neck and raised it toward Ja'eq, "Suvi, come here, I want you to see something," the small friccon and the box appeared from the sand, "the brain is everything a person is, the body is the maximum he can be but the brain is actually who he is at the moment…with all his memories and all his emotions, everything comes to this marvelous bag of red and grey matter."

His hand reached into the fly head, causing the horrid running effect on the skull and brain exposing the brain, "this part of the brain is what controls pain, it's called the Post central gyrus and if I trigger it like this," he stuck a finger in and twisted and immediately the hollow started to scream in pain as every nerve in his body sensed fake massages of pain.

"You see, if I press this part as well he won't be able to pass out of the pain," the hollow just kept screaming and one could only ask himself when he breathes. "but the brain control more than just pain and motor functions, this is children play for me, what I really like is to manipulate the more advanced parts of the brain…especially memory."

"you are correct that I can't reach your mind like your master but you also exposed yourself completely…you fear him, you are terrified of his power, and the memory of the day he fought you is the only thing that scares you," Ja'eq moved towards her with the screaming hollow still at his hands, "so while I can't give you new horrors, I can lock you forever in that moment of life and it will be real as if it happened for the first time…again and again…"

He patted on her head, "so unless you are not fearing your master you should keep your mouth to yourself," it seemed like she wanted to say something, but Ja'eq decided to prevent such misunderstanding at this point of the mission, "keep your mouth to yourself, now go and find your sister, if she still alive."

"and now back to you," Ja'eq pressed another part of the brain and the poor hollow stopped with his endless screams, "I removed the endless loop of pain, but not out of mercy but out of pure cruelty, by the time ill finish with you, you will beg for that thing…" with a serious of fast movement on the brain Ja'eq operated on his victim, taking parts and sawing others, cutting and stitching with god like skill and in the end he finished.

Ja'eq raised his hand and the hollow raised the same hand, then Ja'eq asked "1+1 is?"

"2"

"And in the box there is a?"



((and this is where the wizard become a mindless computer, answering questions and doing what he is told to, trapped forever in his own mind *chuckle* cruelty is nice...))

[Kolbertt]

Vradzee looked at the sky with empty eyes. He finally babbled...

"I don't know... I was ordered to bring that box to Helel-Sama by someone I couldn't see..." The mental effort Vradzee was putting on himself only made this new modified brain punish him severelly... His face vibrated and twitched violently while attempting to resist.

The box, so keenly protected before, was now quietly awaiting to be opened up by Ja'eq...

[Hiraeth]

Durante grinned as Sora threw himself into the fray. He was about to join him, when there was a tug on his sleeve. Sisko was looking up at him with a questioning expression on her face.

"Durante-sama, I am feeling weakened from having to run so far. Would it be all right for me to use my resureccion and draw strength from these hollows?"

Her master considered the idea. "No, not today. You're not an experienced fighter, I don't want you getting in the way." He patted her on the head and vanished in a burst of sonido.

Sisko sighed "As you wish Durante-sama." She wandered morosely back in the direction she'd been running down moments before. There was now a large gap in the ranks of the hollows, those who weren't dead were now fleeing Durante and Sora in terror. The two arrancar were making short work of the rest of the army.

...........................

Suvi on the other hand had listened silently to Ja'eq's pontifications. She resisted the urge to respond, somehow her shattered mind recognised that the sheer pride of this creature would not allow him to rest until he'd proved that he was able to terrify her.

When he finally dismissed her she wandered over and began kicking the side of the box petulantly, muttering to herself quietly. "Stupid stupid stupid. Ain't scared no more. Stupid stupid stupid."

[halfnhalf]

Isamu saw the cruelty of the frail hollow. Perhaps he was trying to make up for that crap body with this torture of the little dressed hollow. Well, it is a dog eat dog world here. Isamu was...amused with the frail hollow's ability, and from a distance away, close enough to see but far enough to avoid confrontation, Isamu saw the horrible act that the frail hollow committed. It was terrible but among Isamu's standards...it was acceptable, for in this separate world of devouring and evolution there are no crimes.

The frail hollow could apparently use his hand to go through any part of the body as though the skin and bones were made of water. Isamu saw the sewing and the sawing and came to the conclusion that this frail hollow was some sort of glorified quack doctor...a genius but with quack ideals...it interested Isamu.

Isamu saw how the little dressed hollow was now at the beck and call, at the mercy of the frail hollow and Isamu considered the possibility of confronting the frail hollow and talking to him. However fear took over, and he realized that in this world...confrontation meant a fight, unaware of the identity of the espada, he had no idea of who he was observing. But curiosity began to take its toll as the box the little dressed hollow had killed and been killed over lay in the sands...vulnerable to anyones hands. Isamu wanted to open it, he wanted what was inside...and before he knew it...he was about two meters away from both the frail hollow and the box. Isamu was petrified.

[Shdo]

"And who is this Helel-sama? Are they here? And what powers do they have? Tell me everything about them!" like clay in Ja'eq hands; vradzee is now a tool and nothing more.
When he will finish answering Ja'eq questions he will be ordered to return to los noches, to serve as one of many lobotomized hollows, Ja'eq army of mindless puppets.

************************************************** ************

The door opened, Kayder emerged from the depths of the ruined building he found. On top of the little Arrancar another Arrancar stood, a Arrancar he never seen before.

"Oh…are you one of those bitch friends? I would make a short work of you…" the unknown Arrancar draw his blade when the power surge from the nearby fight draw his attention, "crap…the others having a tough time…I better kill you fast and go there…"

"you are looking at the wrong place," the hiss like voice came from the little Arrancar, "your problem isn’t there…its here…"

A minute later the mutilated body of the tall Arrancar was laying at Kayder feet, a unusual grin filled his face, revealing a row of sharp teeth and accompanied with a two little eyes that radiated malice.

"While I still have some free time out of my prison…I should makes the best of it…where is that white bastard apprentice of mine?"


(dont worry halfnhalf, you will be addressed once i finish the questioning.

[Hiraeth]

Suvi stopped kicking the box for long enough for notice that the mantis hollow had approached her position.

She wandered over to him "Hey you're a bug. We like bugs. Bugs are fun. I was a bug."

"So what're ya doing bug?"

[Kolbertt]

The army of Hollows felt down without glory... Like their master, they were no real match for the Espada. In fact, they were not expected to do nothing at all. Vradzee gathered random hollows around him solely for his personal entertainment, maybe use as fodder in a fight, but he didn't really expect nothing from them.

Time rapidly flew by with both Durante and Sora enjoying the scarlet havoc, and once the final minnion was slain, Sora sheathed his sword and looked at Sisko happily

"Madamme! The road is free!"

However, even before Sisko could move, a sharp tentacle, of what seemed to be sand, pierced her through the stomach and lifted her slowly. From the spot of the tentacle, a shape arose and finally spoke in a familiar voice

"Did you think... You were done with... ME?!"

Vidal appeared, and her face oozed off hate... Throwing Sisko's body aside, she increased the reiatsu around her, unleashing killing intent along.

Her body grew, the tentacle grew and multiplied until creating four massive arms. From the elegant lady from before, all that remained was her face emerging from an oversized head.

"I... WON'T FORGIVE!!"

In a violent movement, she moved forward. Her very weight shook down the forest as her arms extended to strike Durante and Sora.

0===0

The kicks Suvi gave to the box made it lift a few steps, and when it landed down, the box opened up slightly with a screak...

"Helel-Sama... He is the... The beggining... and the end... He awaits quietly for my return in his stronghold... He... I was ordered...by someone..."

He pointed at the road his little hollow army had been walking through moments before. Coincidence or not, it pointed to the red globe where Nicolau was fighting.

"to bring that... to him..."

Vradzee's shaking hand pointed at the box, which slowly but steadily opened up more and more. A putrid smell slowly filled the area.

When light entered the box, everyone could see, the broken body of a Shinigami...

He was dressed in lab coat and sported a pair of black boots, his eyes were wide open, in the uttermost expression of horror, a face familiar to both the Octava and Novena Espada. His torso was exposed, and clearly written in it:

WE KNOW

[Hiraeth]

"Durante-samaaaaa!" Sisko screamed as her body was tossed aside like a ragdoll. She landed, broken and bloodied upon the sand, which began to roil like the ocean.

"Sisko!" Durante started towards her then rolled to avoid the giant sand arms that were reaching towards him. Not having time to draw his sword, he chose instead to shoot a pair of cero at one of the arms, hoping to damage it enough that it would break.

Sisko struggled to her feet, one hand pressing into the gaping wound in her stomach, as she began the healing process. Her eyes met those of her master questioningly and he nodded once. She understood. From somewhere she produced a zanpaktou, its hilt bound with lime green wrapping. Her wound was mostly sealed now, and she removed her hand from it to grasp the hilt of her zanpaktou and pull it free. Without hesitation, or thought for her own safety, she dove towards the great sand creature and began to swing her blade at it madly.

Durante swore as his fraccion attacked. He should have made her restrain herself, yet since she'd been attacked directly it was understandable that she'd want to get revenge. He dodged another attack from Vidal's arms and sent a pair of cero towards her face, hoping to blind her, or melt the sand with the heat.

He turned to Sora "Sora-kun, if you're still offering assistance I'm sure I'd greatly appreciate it."


.....................

Elsewhere in the forest, Suvi was distracted from the strange sight of the dead shinigami by a weird bloom in reiatsu. Her sister had just been attacked by someone, and was now responding in kind. "MORON!" With a scream Suvi dove into the sand, fully intending to beat some sense into her wayward sibling, once she'd destroyed her attacker of course.

[Shdo]

The little fraccion charged back into the sand, seeking her sister who was apperantly attacked by something. But that wasn’t important, the little bug isn’t important.
Ja'eq moved to the boxed shinigami and examined it, "ill bring this to sora, lets see if he knows who this is…the red ball can wait."

"You, hollow, you helped me and you will be rewarded, you can either try to follow me for now or go to Las nochas and tell them that Ja'eq sent you from the menos forest mission. When I'll be back we will talk about a reward," both ismau and the new thrall hollow recieved guidance to Las nochas, "i would stay but my services are required somewhere else."

With this and the shinigami tucked in the box again, Ja'eq moved towards the other members of the group.

(The box will slow him down, so he will arrive only some time after Suvi, giving you as much time as you want to shine, not that he will come to help the fighting as much as providing medical assistance. And the wizard is on its way to LN where he will wait for the other espada to interrogate him)

[halfnhalf]

A few kicks to the box that the little dressed hollow cherished gained Isamu's attention. He looked at the nearby hollow at her mouth moving and then litsened.

Isamu looked at the small girl hollow. She seemed very child like but for some reason he liked her personality. He wondered how these how appeared so human like, how they could talk with so much ease free from the pain and the ache not to mention the stress it took to form words. They seemed to be of a different breed...he felt some sympathy towards this creature...to be so evolved but stuck in that child like state.

"Bug? Oh yes myself, I...am alright...what kind of bug were yo-"

But before Isamu could finish his sentence, the small girl hollow's eyes grew terse, she shouted profanity and then her body disappeared under the ground. Had he said the wrong thing? No he knew he hadn't and then suddenly he felt the huge surge of power. Isamu's face radiated towards the bursts of reiatsu...he was curious as to what had happened. Isamu then looked at the wizard...he was still a retard no more than a shell of liquefied yolk.

Isamu had ignored the light from the box until now, and the image of the dead apparently mutilated shinigami brought warm and fuzzy memories of Isamu's own victims. Though the shinigami appeared to be a scientist, much too many of those going around these days. Suddenly the box shifted as the frail hollow moved and "examined" it, no doubt for his perverted pleasures. He muttered to himself and then Isamu found his eyes fixated on him. Receiving orders from this frail hollow confused him, was in some sort of position to give Isamu orders, but given his horrifying powers he had just exemplified...Isamu thought he better do what this frail hollow said. Whereupon receiving directions to a supposed building, apparently that big white thing wasn't the sun. The frail hollow left with that. Knowing that he was but a small fry among this rally of big game hunters, Isamu decided to venture to this white building. Wondering why the frail hollow was going to reward him, and with what along the way...besides Isamu was curious as to what this building was...and why was it so big.

[Kolbertt]

Vidal continued her rampage. Her state of mind had seriously deteriorated, from the mocking and confident blabber she was before, to a mindless monster that seemed to have no interest other than killing those in front of her. Was it because of Durante's poison affecting her mind? Or simply because she had been humilliated by her opponent? It was hard to tell, as every noise she made quickly deteriorated into a bestial roar.

The Cero's Durante threw hitted directly on the sand arm, reducing it to merelly a maimed fraction of it's original size... But unlike before, the arm regenerated in mere seconds without showing even signs of slowing down... The slashes Sisko freely gave away were not helping, as even if the sand moved away, more sand just felt and filled the spot.

Sora, however, took quick notice of all this things. He lifted his left hand, and spinned it at the scream of - "shisso - SUERTE!"

The first thing that called everyone's attention when the smoke dissipated, was a pair of blood red, sharp, and deadly... Bunny ears.

Sora's lower body had transmutated into a pair of pristine white, muscular and mainly fluffy legs ressembling those of a bunny, complete with a cute pomponous tail. The only spot that looked slightly menacing were a pair of black spikes that followed the form the femur.

His upper body changed little, his long sleeved shirt had reduced to a normal shirt, from his hands, to his elbow, had increased in muscular size and where now covered in white fur. Very much like a pair of white gloves. Every one of his four fingers now sported a black nail, sharp as a claw, and black as night.

In short, it looked something like:
http://i34.tinypic.com/mvi1yu.jpg

Even if not really menacing at all, Suerte has a most deadly skill... A skill which can could grant Sora victory over anything, had he the strength to back him up.

Sora's legs, even if fluffy looking, where far from soft. Most of them was composed of hardened muscles totally loaded with reiatsu. His kicks were stronger than slashes, his bursts of speed rivaled that of Sonido, and his Sonido was surprisingly good, even nearing Espada level... but this was not his strongest point --- It had been a while since he went Resurreccion, and after a second of appreciation to himself. He lunged forward, running over Vidal's arms and nearing her face.

The texture... The feeling... The composition... The speed... It all makes sense now.

Reaching Vidal's face, Sora propelled a wonderful kick to it, blowing it neatly away. A quick somersault back, and a short burst towards a tree far from Vidal. He observed how her body regenerated, and Sonido'ed next to Durante.

"Durante-Sama... She hides the core of her powers inside her body. This "Sand Body" requires much more energy than the forms she's taken before. Inside of her, a concentration of her reiatsu is moving the structure..."

Sora's ears faced Vidal, watching every movement of hers. Sora's most deadly skill...

Animal Instinct. Sora's body greatly enhaced the senses, up to the point where he can detect the way everything works by mere sight. Touching his enemy only confirms his ideas, and quickly allow him to think of a way to counter attack. The predator soul in every Arrancar. The killing instinct natural to all of them, was Sora's advantage.

"Just trust me, inside of her... There is something... Durante-Sama, I'll follow your commands"

(While not able to go Resurreccion yet, Hiraeth is free to use Sora as her character for the next turn. Just find a way to enter Vidal... Which should be horribly easy to you:fu

Also, Izamu is officially out of the Mission -)

[Shdo]

Ja'eq was still on his way to the battle area, wondering about the heavy box he carried, but after a hundred meters he decided that it was too heavy so he kept it buried deep in the ground and headed to the fighting zone, if the mountain wont come to muhammad than muhammad will go to the mountain, it will be much easier to bring Sora with him to the box and then have someone else carry it.

[Hiraeth]

Durante sighed dramatically "Dang, if only I had some way to get inside this giant sand monster." He glanced at Suvi, who'd just emerged from the sand next to him "Glad you could make it."

She punched him in the calf "Don't always rely on me saving your ass."

He rubbed his aching limb and rolled it eyes "If you can find it in your mean little heart to forgive me, could you also assist me, could you also go into that body and locate the energy core for me?"

A massive arm smacked down between them, interrupting the conversation. As she rolled out of the way, Suvi glared up at it "It'd be a pleasure."

Durante smiled as his fraccion launched herself straight at the arm, putting her hands together above her head and diving elegantly into the sand creature. Something strange began to happen then, she appeared to be swimming in some kind of corkscrew motion, cutting the arm with her own body and spraying the rest of it out in a fountain of sand. As the arm shrank, Vidal seemed to realise that something was wrong, and began hitting herself to try and knock the little arrancar out of her body.

Suvi was not deterred. She moved into the shoulder now, creating something like a whirlpool into Vidal's torso, in seconds reaching her core, a dense ball of sand that she had no hope of penetrating, still that didn't mean there was no hope. She increased her speed, cutting around the ball, separating it from the rest of the structure, and driving it towards the front of the chest, where Durante could have a clean shot at it.

"Now Boss!" She shrieked as the ball burst fourth. Durante instead turned to Sora "Do your thing bunny boy!"

Sora nodded and launched himself into the air, aiming a kick towards the ball that would hopefully shatter it into its individual grains of sand. If it was unsuccessful, well Durante put his hands together and readied a cero, just in case.